DETROIT - This is the future of luxury motoring as General Motors envisions it. Unveiled in a video presentation on Tuesday, this futuristic flying Cadillac concept is a self-driving vehicle that can take off and land vertically.
A senior GM executive described the concept as "reimagining the future of personal transportation".
The single-passenger Cadillac - technically, a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drone - will be able to travel from urban rooftop to urban rooftop at speeds up to 88km/h.
It is fully fully autonomous and all-electric, with a 90kW motor, a GM Ultium battery pack and an ultra-lightweight body with four pairs of rotors.
The flying Cadillac was presented in a video as part of a virtual keynote presentation by Chief Executive Mary Barra, along with a family-friendly Cadillac electric shuttle that drives on the roads like a conventional car.
Barra last year revealed that the company was exploring such alternative transportation modes as aerial taxis.
The concepts in the CES video were introduced by GM design chief Mike Simcoe, who described the VTOL as "the Cadillac of urban air mobility".
"VTOL is key to GM’s vision for a multimodal future," he said.
The autonomous Cadillac shuttle, described in the video as "arriving soon," features a boxy silhouette that recalls the Cruise Origin, also designed by Simcoe’s team. It features fore and aft sliding doors and a panoramic glass roof.
The cabin has wraparound lounge-like seating, plus biometric sensors, voice control and hand gesture recognition.
GM declined to disclose further details.
Other carmakers, including Toyota, Hyundai and Geely, have previously shown concept aerial vehicles as part of their future planning.
Reuters